1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composite anode for Li-ion (lithium-ion) batteries. Specifically, the composite anode of this invention comprises a copper current collector working electrode, at least one anode material comprising at least one of a carbon, a silicon, a conductive agent, and combinations thereof, wherein at least one of the anode materials is deposited on a surface of the copper current collector working electrode to form the composite anode. An electrophoretic deposition method is provided for making the composite anode of this invention. A lithium-ion battery having the composite anode of this invention is also disclosed.
2. Description of the Background Art
Most of current available Li-ion batteries use various forms of carbon as anode. In recent years, silicon has been found to offer 10 times more energy density as compared to carbon anode. However, silicon anode suffers two major drawbacks: (1) low electronic conductivity, and (2) three times volume expansion during charging. To utilize the high energy density of silicon while minimize its drawbacks, various forms silicon-carbon composites have been developed and demonstrated to have very good performance. Most of these composites were manufactured with high-cost and multi-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods. These methods require sophisticated and expensive equipment making them either undesirable or impracticable for implementation in manufacturing environment. They are also plagued by high processing temperatures and employment of toxic precursors (like SiH4).
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